Block Party

Kids' bike races

Adult-men-on-kids-bike race
*I'm proud to say that my dad won, but not without road rash and bruises.  Don't worry, Tol's bike and helmet were spared.

This was my parents 3rd Annual Block Party.  This was my 3rd year attending, but my first year being official.
We played games, raced bikes, ate dinner and enjoyed fabulous music.
I LOVED living in this neighborhood for the short 6 months we were there.  Tol made some great friends and so did I.
Thanks everyone for a great party... and a great place to spend our 'tween time'!

SERIOUS fireworks!!

It's been a LONG TIME RUNNING TRADITION of going to the 

PIONEER DAY FIREWORKS

@ Liberty Park on the 

24th of July.

 

 Here is a small portion of the clan

 

My parents figured this was our 24th year going, minus the years we were @ the beach. 

 

This year was different than any other year.  Let's just say we haven't seen fireworks like this before, and we've seen A LOT of fireworks!

The fireworks starting shooting parallel with the ground and going off in the crown.  It happened to be the area of people that we were in.  Fireworks were going off all around us.  NO exaggeration. 

I was a TOTAL SPAZ and started running, probably in circles.  My dad grabbed Tol.  Luke, Nils' friend, grabbed Addi.  Don't think I'll live that one down.  It was complete chaos!

This isn't a great pic, but you get the idea.  FREAKY!!

The crowd after the fireworks had stopped.

 

Glad we all made it home safe and sound.  And a little freaked out!

Stansbury Tri

The Athletes
LUKE & NILS

Part of the cheering crowd
TOLMAN

Volunteer
CURTIS
 

Nils' finishing time

The kids and I made a mini getaway out of this and stayed at a Stansbury Park hotel the night before.  We were lucky enough to watch Baby Finn while his mom and dad were busy putting on the tri.
Super fun day!

fishy friends

Build -A- Bear

"Harley" the Dog

&

"Hello Kitty" the identity crisis Buzz Lightyear Princess Bear

Why do they always end up in MY bed?  shhhh.... I secretly love it.

Little Swimmers

We lived at the pool this summer.  My kids loved every second of it and they both became great little swimmers.

One of the BEST things about swimming in the summer is this... 

they are dead tired at the end of the day.

CUTE COUSINS

 My cousin Jane, who I swear should still be 10 years old, got MARRIED!  So we had a shower for her.  I pulled out my camera after most people had already left.  OOPS!
I LOVE all these ladies... and Eric, too!

Puppy Love

 HARLEY, Chel's dog & TOL
These 2 became BEST FRIENDS!!  Sorry Dave, we just might have to get a dog.

MOAB

Thanks to Chel's hook-up and all her coordinating, 
the whole fam went to MOAB!!  
All the sibs, Tol, Addi & Becka drove down a day before my parents.   

 I had NEVER been to Moab so we had A LOT to get done in just a few short days.

1.  Power House 

This was a super cool place!  But considering I just had surgery a week and a half prior and we had 2 little kids with us, it probably was a bit much.  Everyone was so great to help carry my stuff... and kids :)

We hiked through lots of water that Tol thought was awesome UNTIL he saw a 'LOBSTER.'  Then he totally FREAKED.  It was only a crawdad, but it made a LONG and HEAVY hike for whoever was carrying Tol across the water.  

Once we got to the POWER HOUSE  Tol got over his fear of lobsters.

        Tol lovin POWER HOUSE.  Especially playing with Harley!

Mom & her babies!

 Addi lovin the POWER HOUSE

2. DINNER 

Mom and Dad got there that afternoon so we met up with them at their hotel.  After driving around for a good 45 minutes out to the middle of NO WHERE trying to find a KARAOKE restaurant someone told me about, we ended up at the Slick Rock Cafe.

The live music lured us in.  The guitar player with the long hair came and sat with us for a while during one of his breaks.  Awesome dude!  And they provided good tunes to eat to and DANCE to!

3.  Balancing Rock

4.  Hike around other parts of the park

5.  Addi cleaning out her shoes every 30 seconds.  NO joke!

My fault for not bringing better shoes.  Sorry Ad, and everyone else who waited with us.

 

 6.  Delicate Arch lookout point

We were wimps and opted for the lookout over the real thing because of the aforementioned surgery, kids and now we've added a lady on oxygen.  It was still a pretty cool hike. 

  

7.  Delicate Arch pics

8.  Getting Tan & DIRTY!

This picture doesn't do it justice, but his tan line (accentuated with lots of red dirt) was crazy!

 9.  FIREWORKS!!

since we were there over the 4th.  Here we are chillin on the HS Football field waiting for them to start.  They put on a pretty good show.  Way to go Moab!

  

We had such a great time!  The best part was being all together as a family.  Too bad Dave was already in MN and couldn't join us.   My Dad, Nils and I also went to sacrament meeting there and it really was one of the best meetings I've been to.  There was such a sweet, humble spirit there and everyone was so nice.

All in all, Moab did not disappoint!  Hope I'll be there again soon!... and feeling a little better and up for a little more than this time.